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While many of the Surrey soldiers fought in France, others saw action further afield in Italy and the Middle East.

In the run-up to the centenary of the Armistice on November 11, Get Surrey will be recounting the experiences of the two regiments each month as the men repelled the final German offensive before taking part in the Allies' 'Hundred Days' advance that ended the war.

Surrey remembers

Heavy casualties

June 1918 would have been welcome relief for the two regiments as the German Spring Offensive, launched in March, slowly ground to a halt. Also known as the Ludendorff Offensive, it was a desperate last-ditch attempt to defeat the Allies before American troops and resources could be fully deployed.

Several East Surrey battalions saw action during the offensive in April. The First Battalion, recently returned from a four-month deployment to Italy, fought at the Battle of the Lys and helped repel a German advance on the important supply centre at Hazebrouck with remarkably few losses.

British soldiers at the St Quentin Canal later in 1918 - the Eighth and Ninth Battalions of the East Surrey Regiment had sustained heavy casualties during the Battle of St Quentin in March (Image: Mirrorpix)

Further south, the Eighth and Ninth Battalions delayed the Germans at St Quentin in March, sustaining heavy casualties. The Ninth Battalion remained in the area, while the Eighth was moved west towards Amiens, taking part in the Battle of the Avre in April.

During the battle, the Eighth Battalion sustained more than 200 casualties, with most NCOs and all but three officers being killed or wounded. The only remaining officers were the battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel A.P.B. Irwin and two second lieutenants.

A welcome rest

June 1918 was quieter. The Eighth Battalion spent the month in trenches near Hénencourt, north-east of Amiens, and saw only 17 wounded and one killed. In a reminder of the horrors of the war, seven soldiers from the battalion were evacuated wounded when a gas shell exploded in their trench.

The Ninth remained further north near Lens, both in the line and at the brigade reserve camp at Bully Grenay, and sustained few casualties.

The war cemetery at Thiepval, which now stands near where men from the East Surrey and Royal West Surrey Regiments were stationed during June 1918 (Image: PA)

The only notable event came on June 6, when the battalion diary records that an attempted German raid was repelled due to "the sharp look out kept and the prompt action of 2nd Lieutenant Wood". At the end of the month, Wood was awarded the Military Cross for his actions during the raid.

Other battalions also experienced a quiet June, with the First Battalion in the line at Le Sart. The Second Battalion, which was stationed in Greece, spent the month training and working on building a new camp and road at Hodza Dere. The worst they had to contend with was the heat and malaria.

A tougher month for the West Surreys

The Royal West Surrey Regiment had also suffered heavy casualties during the Spring Offensive. The six battalions involved in resisting the Germans lost an average of 340 troops each between March and April 2018 - a total of more than 2,000 soldiers.

The First Battalion of The Queen's (Royal West Surrey) Regiment at the start of the war - the battalion would sustain heavy casualties in both 1914 and 1918 (Image: UGC)

However, unlike the East Surreys, the regiment did not enjoy a completely quiet June.

The Sixth Battalion attacked German positions at Bouzincourt, north-east of Amiens, capturing the German front line at the cost of 31 killed, 199 wounded and eight missing.

The Second Battalion, in northern Italy, carried out an effective raid on June 26 and suffered few casualties, while the 2nd/4th Battalion sailed from Alexandria having finished operations in Palestine, joining the 34th Division in Flanders on June 29.

General Ludendorff (right) had masterminded the German Spring Offensive that began in March 1918, but by June his advance had begun to stall (Image: Daily Mirror)

Elsewhere...

The Germans continued their offensive, but gradually lost momentum. On June 9, the Battle of the Matz commenced with a German advance.

Despite being warned in advance, French and American troops were unable to resist at first and the Germans advanced nine miles before a sudden French counter-attack at Compiègne on June 11 stopped them in their tracks.

The initiative continued to shift towards the Allies as the Germans ran out of steam.